Everyone, in fact, except defenders Gabriel Gervais and Mauricio Vincello, as well as head coach Nick De Santis, who will be travelling to Cary, North Carolina, for the USL All-Star Team’s match-up against English club Sheffield Wednesday, Wednesday night (8:00 pm, FSW).
“It's nice to see that the league has revived the tradition of the All-Star game, because it allows us to play against a team from another country,” says De Santis, who will be head coach of the All-Star squad. “I plan to use all the players who were picked. We’ll be using them in the same role they play with their respective teams. I want the players to have fun, but we still have to do well and get a good result, to showcase the calibre of our league.”
As De Santis was saying two weeks ago, when Gervais and Vincello’s selection was announced, goalkeeper Greg Sutton would have been invited had he not suffered a fractured finger, while Nevio Pizzolitto and Adam Braz, the Impact’s other two starting defenders, would also have deserved to be there. After all, yet again this season, the Montreal defense not only is the stingiest in the league, but is simply dominating, as their six goals allowed and 11 shutouts in 15 games demonstrate.
And the defense has been outstanding despite the absence of Sutton, the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year for the least three seasons. This has allowed young Andrew Weber, in his USL debut, to post statistics worthy of a veteran — a 0.333 GAA with six shutouts and a 6-0-3 record in nine starts.
“It’s a huge help,” says Weber. “Their experience comes into play, no doubt. You have three players who are on the Canadian national team (Gervais, Pizzolitto, Braz), and a very experienced defender in Maurico Vincello. They all have leadership, they know exactly what they have to do, their decision-making is great.”
“It’s a team concept,” says Braz. “We have a very good system, tactically we’re very aware of what we have to do. It starts with the strikers, who a lot of times do things that don’t get noticed. And in the midfield, we have a lot of workhorses, like Patrick Leduc, ZĂ© Roberto, Lars Lyssand — these guys win battles.”
Weber also deserves his share of praise.
“He has excellent training habits,” says De Santis. “He kept a good attitude, he had very good working habits, so he was ready when it was time for him to play.”
“Andrew worked hard for his chance to play, he was always sharp in training,” says Braz. “And the work he’s put in has paid off.”
As did the hard work put in by Braz who, at 25, is already recognized as an equal to veterans like Gervais, Pizzolitto and Vincello. He admits his stint in Sweden, in 2003, has helped him.
“I definitely became more mature as a player,” says Braz. “Their way of playing is more direct, so I always had to deal with aerial balls — balls that as a defender, you have to win. In soccer, half the battle is confidence. If you’re confident, you’ll do well. And my confidence has slowly grown.”
Which is not surprising when you help your team shut out the opponent in 73 % of its games.
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